Fundamentally Feline

09/04/2026

Where’s Beans? Can you find him?

While I have filmed in here many times, it’s hard to appreciate the scope of this incredibly busy room, which combines all of our high school and college, posters, concert memorabilia, artwork, and inspirational pieces! It’s supposed to be the room where creativity happens, but we work too much to enjoy it so of course it’s mostly for the cats!

Tonka’s THIRD cartwheel lives here too. Daddy has fixed it again, but we’ll soon need a new one I suspect.

09/03/2026

Wild Beast Cat Toys for the win! I had to order some new toys from this Etsy shop because Finn has completely destroyed his kicker! He turned it inside out, ripped out all the stuffing and ripped the flesh in half! Sometimes it’s painful, providing for our little carnivores, but these real fur and feather toys are irresistible! They do not have a business page or Instagram but these toys are available on Etsy and soon on wildbeastcattoys.com. You should check them out!

WildBeastCatToys

08/30/2026

Tabby traffic jam on the balance beam!
Do you have one of our balance beams yet?
This is now one of our most popular products, second only to the scooped scratching post! It makes a great clicker training prop, a great horizontal scratcher and an excellent play prop all in one! Let them use it how they see fit.

Happy Sunday from Tonkabeans and Sandy Satu!

08/27/2026

I missed posting this is a timely fashion but here is a super example of why we should not rely on robots and technology to scoop our litter boxes and feed our pets. If we want to remove ourselves so much from there care, why do we have them? I love to feed my animals!

Now, there are of course a time and a place for certain gadgets to resolve issues like nighttime feeding to avoid being woken up or if you away on vacay, but as a whole, these devices should not be the entire way to care for your cats!

I've lost trust ..."

08/26/2026

For those who have followed the saga of Tonka all these years (9, can you believe he is NINE?!), it’s interesting to see that Tank pushes him around, can take over food, nudge him away from an activity, takes over clicker training, Tonka defaults to him quite a bit. Size makes NO DIFFERENCE in the feline world, it is about confidence!

This would be a fantastic time to address that there is NO ALPHA in the feline world! If you learn nothing else from this post or page, please, stop saying “Alpha cat!” It does not exist!

The feline hierarchy is “fluid”. It constantly changes from hour to hour, room to room, and piece of furniture to piece of furniture. For example, one cat may “own” the sofa in the perfect morning sun, another may own it at night during TV watching time.

Cats “time share” resources. Which is why is is imperative you spread out resources in your home! Cats hate “cat rooms”! Very stressful indeed. (What if one cat “owns” the cat room? How do the others get to eliminate?

Now, that being said, when you have just two cats you may notice some distinctions but in a multi-cat household A can be dominant over C, C can be dominant over F, F can be dominant over B and so on, and then the situation’s and circumstances change and it rotates yet again!

So please, no more Alpha cat! And, no more “cat rooms!”

08/24/2026

Little Ivy suddenly became intensely aggressive. Things were so bad at home, her family did not know what to do and were scared of her. They even took her to animal control at one point and a family member was hospitalized, but thankfully, after contacting a dear friend, who then put her in touch with me, we were able to rescue her from animal control and get her situation turned around. With the help of the amazing Dr. Rachel Luoma from Whiskers & Claws, The Feline Hospital, and a medical visit to ensure we knew her physical health we got her on a meds cocktail to calm her little brain down and allow her to feel stable and secure; she is thriving. I handled her in that appointment, with the help of a hefty pre-meds cocktail to allow said handling, she has a history of not being an easy patient, but we got everything done with mom right by her side, pumping in the Churu and treats! We even were able to groom her a bit!

I of course helped the family know how to deal with aggressive outbursts and how to react and redirect to keep themselves safe, taught them how to medicate her positively, educated them about the ideal home environment set up, and we saved her!

Cases like these feel good. Cases like these keep me going. What we do at PWC is unlike anywhere else, it is special and not to be taken for granted. I cannot do what I do without the help of willing and knowledgeable veterinarians that are also willing to think outside the box and implement some treatments that are not textbook. We have been helping cats like Ivy for 20+ years, with a meds protocol most will not implement. PWC is a special place.

Ivy's story is a common one. She would likely no longer be alive if it wasn't for all the members of the team helping, which included this dear family friend who gave Ivy safe haven when the family was too fearful to bring her home.

Ivy is thriving, foraging, playing, taking medications and handleable! She has not attacked a single person since her visit to our office and my counsel. THAT, folks is a WIN!

Please read her story on my website at this link.

https://www.fundamentallyfeline.com/testimonial/ivy-takes-a-turn-but-comes-back-to-us/

08/21/2026

Thought I would share where we were at with Tonka‘s asthma inhaler progress. He tolerates it much better now! Just remember a little gentle restraint and handling is acceptable and often needed.

08/20/2026

Do your cats have a weird toy they are obsessed with?
Anyone have an heirloom toy that’s been in your family for DECADES?! Yeah, I may have you beat with this one!

Meet the special, crazy old, magnetic ladybug friend!!

This “toy”, a fridge magnet, has been in my family for DECADES! My childhood cat, Pansy, was absolutely obsessed with this toy (magnet) and she ripped it off the fridge daily. She was a beautiful, sadly very overweight, calico cat we adopted when I was about 4 years old.

When I was cleaning out my mom’s house, I found the ziplock bag of old magnets from New York, they kept everything! I do too! If it’s neat and tidy and organized…ya know, why not!

I was a bit ecstatic to find this little gem in that ziplock bag (they used to be much thicker with better zipper seals-they really don’t make s**t like they used to!) I brought it home. I suspect it’s little Sandy Satu who rips it off the fridge each night but I find this googly eyed, very well glued “toy” on the floor EVERY DAMN MORNING! It is truly heartwarming! Note the yellowed googly eyes, this thing is old! I think my mom made it, not 100% sure.

I have yet to catch them in the act, but they love it and I think it’s hilarious! If I ever catch video of the ladybug getting some love, it will be posted.

Hope you thoroughly enjoyed this silly tale!

(complete with 50 year old dust😂)

08/19/2026

A rare sighting! All four of these little hoodlums this close together! Morning meds for Søren turned into a Churu fest. The last one is my favorite, more of a blooper. “Aspect ratio” forced me to post first pic sideways, let’s call it artsy !

08/18/2026

My mother was a prolific artist. She attended the New York Phoenix School of Design in NYC in the early 1960’s. She became a watercolor artist (not the easiest medium-clearly we like a struggle in our family) and textile designer. These little gems were uncovered while cleaning out the house. I wish I had known, her work could have become my logo for Fundamentally Feline or incorporated in some way. These look to be patterns, repeating, likely for children’s clothing or something similar.

Mom kept a lot of things tucked away….this is the first time the world is seeing some of these treasures. Too cute not to share with you guys!